The Bucket Affords …

My challenge for the last week has been fighting habituation – trying to “think like a beginner” as Tony Faddell says.

The Bucket Affords …

I was at Hot Chicken Takeover (a local chicken joint) last week and I saw a little metal bucket on the counter.

It took me a minute to figure out what it was there for. The bucket affords putting things in – but what?

Then I saw the bucket was sitting in front of a box of drinking straws. There were some crumpled-up straw papers in the box, cluttered up with the unwrapped straws.

I stuck some of crumpled-up straw papers in the bucket.

So there you go. The crumpled straw papers signify that the bucket affords trash.

Cancel or Delete?

Here’s one from my phone. I was trying to cancel a meeting, so I selected the calendar item and pressed delete.

Here’s the dialog window. Does pressing “delete” cancel the meeting, or does “cancel” cancel the deletion?

Follow the Users Where They Are

In the Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman recommends following the users wherever they go, following them into the shower if necessary. The Greater Columbus Convention Center took this to heart. I saw the following kiosk in the bathroom there the other day.